Maintaining Balance

When Your Life is Out of Control

First, let’s get centered.

Four important realities:

You will never get it all done.

Life will never be perfect.

You are always in control of your character, your

expectations, and your personal rhythm.

You are not alone.

How to Build Resilience

Always take excellent care of yourself.

Learn to say no.

Reduce your life to what’s essential.

Practice grounding rituals.

Include falling off track (and a part)

in your plans.

Recognize that emotional distress is

normal, especially in the midst of intense

hardship.

Learn to stop thinking in extremes. It’s not good or all

bad, win or lose, succeed or fail.

It’s just life.

Read biographies of people you respect and adopt their

coping strategies.

How to Find Calm in the Storm

Get quiet and ask your intuition what action

to take.

Look for the big picture, wake-up calls and

lessons.

Focus on what’s certain.

Make your basic needs your primary concern.

Do only what you have to do until you’re in the clear.

Practice balanced escapism.

Turn it over to Something Greater.

Write and say affirmation statements.

Reach out for support.

“We think that the point is to pass the test or to overcome the problem, but the truth is that

things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come

together and they fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all this to happen; room for grief, for

relief, for misery, for joy.”

Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart

amywood@amywoodpsyd.com